it's an unbelievable program at Jamie and his wife candidate Jimmy Johnson foundation. Has going. JamieMcMurray currently sitting eighth in points ..... Napa Chevrolet. Its season here Jamie mass. From the number one. Giving

know. Before practice. Man these drivers that got your little early compared mutual on strapping into their car JamieMcMurray . The number one. Some energy. Think scheme of course with those large wheels they were pretty darn cool. Conte

week AJ all the that your. 6100. Habitat. He's averaging 37 I think we operate. Pocono in the last four races JamieMcMurray 716100. Finally achieving that is or what. Or is that the track history. He is that this season the Eagles are

BUY TICKETS: See the races at Bristol A strong finish to the 2016 season and an equally impressive start to 2017 has placed the two-team effort of Chip Ganassi Racing squarely in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series spotlight. These are heady days for drivers JamieMcMurray and Kyle Larson, crew chiefs Matt McCall and Chad Johnston, and the dozens upon dozens of support personnel surrounding the No. 1 and No. 42 teams. Not that you would know it from speaking with the principals. "No, I think that's what we expected," Johnston said of the organization's rise up the competitive ladder. Johnston's driver, Larson, is the series' points leader heading into Monday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway (1 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR). "I think it catches some people off guard and I think it's gotten a lot of hype, but we felt like we were pretty good last year toward the end of the year; we weren't as consistent as we wanted to be. "But performance-wise we felt like we were pretty good. We also knew we needed to continue to work hard to keep gaining on it through the offseason. I think anything less than what we started off would have been a disappointment for all of us." McCall said the resurgence is more than lip service. The results back up the attention being paid to the Ganassi organization this year. "Because you know how it is, everyone always claims they're working hard, working hard and that's the case," he said. "But until you actually have something to show for it, you really don't get to show the world that. "It's good for everyone that works here, a lot of long hours, to get a little recognition for all the work that's been put in." RELATED: Penske, Ganassi battle for early season supremacy The explanations run the gamut, from the obvious to the intricate. "I don't know what the difference ... is, but our race cars are just way faster," said Larson, who has banked one win and four runner-up finishes after seven races. "I think after we struggled so bad through this point of the season last year, (Chad) got really aggressive on what changes he wanted done in the race shop and with the race cars, with the bodies. As soon as he got his bodies and chassis built, we had a great test at Pocono (in April 2016), then we went to Dover, almost won that race; came to Charlotte, won the Showdown, almost won the All-Star Race. "Really since that point, we've had a lot of speed in our cars and we've just built on that and made them better and better." There's been no magic bullet, according to McMurray , who sits eighth in points and has four top-10 results this season. Instead, he said, it's a combination of things that have, in some cases, taken years to develop and implement. Better cars, better personnel, better decisions. The organization has been a contender before, but it's also had its share of expectations that failed to pan out. "It's been kind of years in the process of getting every department just a little bit better," McMurray , 40, said. "I think taking everybody's ideas from engineering, from the guys on the shop floor that have grown up racing, taking all that and combining it and it's all added up to a really good performance." McMurray has been "on both sides" of the situation -- those times when you show up at the track confident that you will contend and those times when you know there's still plenty of work to be done just to survive. "The frustrating part is that you know it's not one little piece," he said. "It's a lot of little, small things that are going to add up to getting you there. "(From) 2010 being as high as you can get to, by 2012 it was horrible. It was super frustrating to go every week and know that if you did everything right you were maybe going to run 20th. Super frustrating weekends." McMurray won the Daytona 500, the Brickyard 400 and the Charlotte fall race in '10. He also won four poles. Two years later, he had only three top 10s and finished outside the top 20 in points. "But right now we are back on top and it's so much fun to show up every weekend and know that even if your car doesn't drive great that you're going to run really well and hopefully have a shot to win," he said. Two Teams, Two Styles, One Goal There's a 16-year difference in ages between McMurray and Larson, and nearly as large of a gap in their approach to racing. Now in his fourth full season in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, Larson's approach is simple: "I show up and drive," he said. McMurray , however, is a product of his past, having arrived on the scene at a time when "guys that were big into setups and how do you make your car drive better," he said. "I was raised with that mentality of kind of understanding the car and trying to make the right adjustments to it to make the car faster. Where Kyle really doesn't know anything about cars. He doesn't really give suggestions of what he thinks you need on the car to make it faster. He just searches around. A lot of times that works out well for him, so that's opened my eyes up to maybe not trying to make the car perfect but maybe just search around and try to find something on the track." Larson calls his teammate "a very underrated driver" with a ton of experience. "He's won every big race on our circuit," Larson said of McMurray . "I can go to him ... and just pick his brain and get any bits of advice I could, look at his data and compare it to mine. "I feel like we are very similar drivers and the way we use our hands and feet and how aggressive we are, so we mesh well together. I love working with Jamie ; I hope he stays around for a long time and we can work together for a long time, as well, and have a lot of success together." While the drivers come from different backgrounds and developed different approaches, the crew chiefs come from similar backgrounds. Both McCall and Johnston had driving careers and served at one point as engineers for other teams. While experience behind the wheel has been helpful, understanding the methodology behind making a car go fast has been more crucial as the two made the move atop the pit box. "I think the driving part, that sort of changes week to week," McCall said. "Especially every time you change a package and the tires change. ... "The other side (of that) is the managing skills, the people skills -- there's no experience for that so that's definitely different on the crew chief side." Johnston said the "other side of the steering wheel pays a lot better but it comes with a lot more hassles, too." "The engineering side and just knowing all the nuances, the aerodynamics ... things like that probably helped me more than anything," he said. The two teams work as one, with key personnel working out of one trailer every week at the track. That promotes open dialogue, with both teams knowing what each is doing at any given time. The differences in the cars and their setups are minor, tweaked to suit each driver's individual needs. And their driving styles really aren't that different. While some folks make much over Larson's high-groove, sideways-here-I-come approach, Larson said it's certainly not by design. Changes in the aero package and the loss of downforce, he said, have actually hurt him as much as anyone. RELATED: Larson fast, atop the standings and having fun "Everybody thinks that because I grew up dirt racing that I like the car sideways and all this and that," he said. "But I don't. Stock car sideways is a way different feeling, a bad feeling, compared to Sprint cars. When you're sideways in a Sprint car, you still have grip; you're making more grip, to a certain point. Where with stock cars, you've got to worry about tire management so much and all that. "If anything, I would honestly say less downforce is bad for me. In 2014, my first year in Cup, we had the most downforce we've had since I've been in NASCAR and I ran really well that year. That's been my best season up until this year. I know last year we won a race and made the (playoffs) and all that, but consistently (2014) was our best up until this season. "Lower downforce, the racing is better but I wouldn't say it suits my driving style any better than it suits anybody else." Having been in the spotlight before, McMurray isn't fazed by the recent surge in attention paid to the Ganassi operation. He's just happy to be a part of the process. "I don't know that when you're on the inside that you view it that differently," he said. "When I think about our shop I know all the sacrifice and the work that's gone into this and sometimes you don't get rewarded for that. Sometimes you put all that time and effort in and it doesn't translate to speed. "But when you're on the inside, you know everything that's happened and why it is. I'm just thankful for it."

Editor's note: Every Friday during the season, "Tweets You Might Have Missed" presents eight of the best NASCAR-related tweets from the week. Follow @NASCAR 1. It was pretty hot yesterday but I am enjoying the heat today w the family. pic.twitter.com/hZAvhvKOhh — JamieMcMurray (@jamiemcmurray) March 20, 2017 @KyleLarsonRacin you too! pic.twitter.com/6AzZFtCRWY — JamieMcMurray (@jamiemcmurray) March 20, 2017 2. *out in front of Dale Jrs house* "First, I'd like to apologize to Amy, and Gus..." pic.twitter.com/4RKRYeJwzP — landon cassill (@landoncassill) March 21, 2017 3. The weather @ACSupdates this weekend should be in the 60s. So kids, it should be safe to listen to @Blaney scanner on Sunday. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) March 21, 2017 4. Best thing about @Blaney sleeping on this trip, I've been ripping ass over here and he's just taking it in.. — Darrell Wallace Jr (@BubbaWallace) March 20, 2017 5. Classic Hamlin. @missjfish reveal's the pick-up line @DennyHamlin used when they first met to #OffTrack 's @kaitlynvincie & @kristenbauer . pic.twitter.com/mfyYvZyzvv — FOX SPORTS: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 20, 2017 6. Hoisting trophies with #Daytona500 Champ @KurtBusch ! Heavy & awkward to hold. Actually hit my face... #Nascar pic.twitter.com/i5xGgdjkbQ — Mario Lopez (@MarioLopezExtra) March 21, 2017 7. From the back seat "Dad, you're like the worst driver ever." and be damned, if says you're a bad driver guess it must be true. — DeLana Harvick (@DeLanaHarvick) March 21, 2017 8. Look what just arrived at the North East Motor Sports Museum. Thank you to @joeylogano for providing the car from your first-career Cup win! pic.twitter.com/i1wHhXPw6G — NH Motor Speedway (@NHMS) March 21, 2017

WATCH: Buescher says he's not in full defensive mode RICHMOND, Va. -- JamieMcMurray and Ryan Newman have adjacent garage areas this weekend at Richmond International Raceway . And Friday morning the two chatted briefly and smiled before climbing into their Chevrolets for practice. McMurray , who is making his 500th Sprint Cup start, holds a 22-point edge over Newman for the 16th and final Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoff berth – and the field will be decided in Saturday night's regular season finale, the Federated Auto Parts 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio). It would have been an even closer contest between the two drivers, but Newman was penalized 15 points this week after his car failed post-race inspection following a eighth-place run at Darlington on Sunday. That turned a 7-point difference into a 22-point difference. RELATED: Chase Bubble Watch " Clinching scenarios for Richmond With many scenarios in play, Newman and McMurray each could clinch a Chase berth with a win. But Pocono winner and Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Chris Buescher also poses a challenge. He enters Saturday's race in 13th place on the Chase Grid, ahead of McMurray (16th) and Newman (17th). "I feel pretty good about our car after practice," McMurray said of his No. 1 Sherwin Williams–sponsored Chevrolet. "Richmond has actually been a pretty good track for me, finishes-wise and we've raced pretty well. Thought we were pretty good that first practice. I'm encouraged by the speed of the cars and hope to have a trouble-free night and that the race is just a normal race, you don't get hung out by a caution or have something happen. "Or,'' he said smiling and pausing, "you don't have a first-time winner. That could happen. But if the race plays out normal we've got a really good car and can have a really good finish.'' McMurray's crew chief Matt McCall said he expects business as usual for the Ganassi Racing team. He acknowledged that, of course, the team will keep an eye on Newman, but insisted the best route for McMurray is simply to try to win. "I guess every race you come to, you try to pay attention to what everyone else is doing,'' McCall said. "We still want to come here and try to win the race. To me, that makes the easiest scenario. "Anytime you start looking back, you go backwards. I'm a big believer in that. No different approach here. " Jamie's been doing this a long time and he's not going to put himself in any crazy situations that he wouldn't normally get in." RELATED: Chase Grid " Driver standings For all the dramatic scenarios coming into the Richmond Chase-setter, only one time has a driver raced his way into the Chase with a victory: Jeremy Mayfield won the Richmond race in 2004 to earn a postseason bid. Because of the penalty this week, the 22-point differential that separates McMurray and Newman is certainly wider. But these two drivers have raced right around one another most of the season. Both drivers have one top-five and eight top-10 finishes in 2016. And they have finished within five positions of one another in nearly half the season's races. While McMurray is understandably glad to have gained a little more cushion, he seemed genuinely regretful it came by way of Newman's penalty. RELATED: No. 31 and No. 42 teams penalized after Darlington "I've been on both sides of that,'' said McMurray , who was penalized 25 points after the Bristol race in 2004 and ultimately missed the Chase by 15 points. "As relieving as it is when you come here because it is a little different environment now [with Newman's penalty], you hate it for that team, and those guys because you know they have worked so hard to get to that point and then to have it taken away sucks.” Buescher, the 2015 XFINITY Series champion who won the season's second Pocono Sprint Cup race, said he will also be cautiously aggressive Saturday night as he attempts to make his first Cup Chase. "We need to race aggressively for every position, every point we can get without taking unnecessary risks,'' Buescher said. "We can only control, what we can control. "We're going out there to race and have a really good day and avoid the risks that would put us in a bad spot or possibly take us out of this Chase.'' "If we can see the 23 car (Ragan), for the most part, we'll know we're OK.‘' Although both the veterans, McMurray and Newman, appeared cool and calm going about their Friday practice at Richmond, there was an unmistakable hint of what's dramatically on the line. "That would be huge if we're able to pull this off,'' McMurray said. "It would be great for our organization. To go from where we were to [teammate] Kyle [Larson] winning a race and both cars competing in the top-10 for the last month, that's a really big step and not something that happens these days. "Maybe 15 years ago you could do that. Now you can't, so pretty phenomenal what they've been able to pull off and our whole group should be pretty proud of themselves.” The celebration, he's hoping, will come Saturday night.

RELATED: Earnhardt Jr. sitting out remainder of 2016 DARLINGTON, S.C. -- JamieMcMurray knows from experience the challenges young Alex Bowman faces as he fills in for sidelined Dale Earnhardt Jr . in the No. 88 Chevrolet. Fourteen years ago, a 26-year-old McMurray was faced with a similar scenario as team owner Chip Ganassi called upon him to step in the No. 40 Dodge for injured Sterling Marlin. "I can't speak for Alex because I don't know what is going through his mind," McMurray said via NASCAR teleconference Friday. "I can only tell you that for me it is as nervous as you can get. I had raced my whole Truck and Busch (now XFINITY ) Series at the time, in cars that I think my Busch car had won like one or two races in seven or eight years. It wasn't necessarily a winning car, and then all of a sudden I got in Sterling's car that had I think won a couple of races earlier that year and it had led the points (through Darlington), it was a really good car. "So, there is a lot of pressure on you to run well because you know that you are in a car that is capable of winning." Winning didn't take long. After a 26th-place run at Talladega Super Speedway, McMurray found his way to Victory Lane at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Oct. 13, 2002, the second start of his Sprint Cup career. McMurray ran six races in the No. 40 for Marlin that season. "Once we won in Charlotte it was like super relieving because not only is that a confidence builder for you, but I think in all the people that are around you," McMurray reflected. Having impressed team owner Ganassi, McMurray was afforded a full-time ride the next season in the No. 42 Dodge. He earned his first pole at Homestead that year and won Rookie of the Year honors at season's close, finishing 13th in the final point standings. Having started with a simple opportunity, that six-race 2002 span ended up solidifying the foundation for McMurray's now 15-year Sprint Cup career. "If you are a driver that is trying to make it in the sport, there is no better position to be put in than to get in a car like that because you know that you have an opportunity -- maybe not to win, but you are in a car that is capable of winning and running up front and showing guys what you can do if you are in the right equipment," McMurray said. RELATED: Bowman grateful for 'chance of a lifetime' Bowman's runs in the No. 88 this season have been sporadic, as he shares seat time with veteran driver Jeff Gordon . In his two starts at New Hampshire and Michigan, the 23-year-old has finished 26th and 30th, respectively, with the car experiencing mechanical problems at Michigan. He'll make eight more runs in the No. 88 car this season at Chicagoland, New Hampshire, Charlotte, Kansas, Talladega, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead. Despite finishes outside the top 25, McMurray applauds Bowman's efforts behind the No. 88 wheel thus far – and believes it bodes well for the young driver's future. "I think that Alex has, even though he hasn't pulled off a win, he has had really good speed and I think to me what sticks out the most is he is not even really in a car every week," McMurray said. "If you were in a truck every week or an XFINITY car ... and then you were filling in, that would be one thing. But he hasn't really been racing that much this year. To jump in and do what he has done at a track like Loudon, which is one style of racing, and then to go to a place like Michigan that is completely different -- he has just done an awesome job. "I know that probably for him the phone is not ringing as much as he wants it to, but he is going to get an opportunity because to me he has really shown that he is capable of it." MORE: McMurray's throwback paint scheme for Darlington

DOVER, Del. -- Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates entered Sunday's race at Dover International Speedway with both drivers -- JamieMcMurray and Kyle Larson -- seemingly on their way to advancing in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup . They left with 25th- and 40th-place finishes and no drivers in the Chase. And there certainly was plenty of disappointment. "Horrible day for our organization," McMurray said, as he stood in the garage midway through the event while his team worked feverishly to repair the No. 1 Chevrolet. An electrical issue, believed to be the result of a valve train failure, began creating problems for the No. 1 team around Lap 73 of the 400-lap event in the form of a vibration. It returned about 70 laps later, as McMurray & Co. tried to keep the car on track as long as possible. "You have wishful thinking at that point," McMurray said. "No one wants to stay out and blow up, not to oil the track down. Also it's hard to diagnose the problem if the motor's blown up. Because you're in a position this weekend where you just have to go for it and what you hope is you've got something as simple as a plug wire or a spark plug that you can replace and the motor's not going to grenade. We came here and looked at it, and actually on the digital dash, we have a little diagnosis page and nothing is showing up, so we didn't know what was wrong. We were just going to salvage as long as we could." Circumstances went from slightly hopeful to dismal, as McMurray reported being down one cylinder, then two, before his No. 1 Chevrolet ultimately blew its motor, smoke billowing to bring out the caution flag and end his day prematurely. McMurray's teammate, Larson, finished the race, but a string of unfortunate events led to the No. 42 missing out on the next round of the Chase and handing the final spot to Austin Dillon . "Nice Christmas present for Austin there, by both Ganassi cars," Larson said on pit road after the race. Larson's monster-sized battle began at Lap 38 when his No. 42 Chevrolet lost power. After a stop on pit road, his car was able to get running again -- but too many men over the wall forced Larson to serve a pass-through penalty that left him facing an uphill battle. "I guess my whole stock car career kind of piled up into the first 50 laps there with bad luck," Larson said. "We probably would have been all right if we didn't have too many men over the wall because we only lost a lap getting the battery back going good and then I had to do the drive-through and lost another two laps. "So, once you get down more than one lap really, you're kind of screwed here. We just kept fighting -- well, I mean, not really I guess fighting; there wasn't much we could do." Larson's early departure from the Chase particularly came as a surprise. Many picked the 24-year-old driver as a dark horse to win the championship this season after his first career win at Michigan. And both Larson and McMurray have shown promise and speed in recent weeks. McMurray takes comfort in that. "(It's) very unfortunate and (I'm) disappointed but very proud of the organization," McMurray said. "Where our cars started the year at and where we are right now, we made huge progress. "If you race every single weekend, you know that the most frustrating part of the sport is to run bad. And the fact that we've run so well, we'll just have things like that happen. So, nobody's down -- we're frustrated, mad, that we're still here watching the race but having good cars is what it's really all about." His teammate echoed his sentiments. "We have good speed with our race team and the Target Chevrolet is fast week in and week out," Larson said. "So I can still run for a top-five in points. I think I can finish fifth at best. So we are going to try and do everything we can to do that or at least try and finish as high up as we can and get a couple of wins. "I still have some really good tracks for me that are left in the Chase. So we are just going to dig deep and work hard and try and get ourselves some more wins." After the crowd cleared, Larson sat on the wall and talked with his crew members. It may be the end of his Chase run, but not his season. Time to get to work. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

NASCAR® and its marks are trademarks of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. The RaceView® trademark is owned by Turner Sports, Inc. and used under license. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.